Charles arthur llewelyn roberts



C. A. L. ROBERTS.

AEROPLANE STRUT 0R THE LIKE.

APPLICATION FILED DEC.9. 191B.

Patented Dee. 16, 1919.

nfvvifv'lln lnlaurlnllflllllll lllllll llllllillfllllflllnnll l I LLEWELYN plane-Struts vprovide a tube as 1 of the l CHARLES ARTHUR LLEWELYN ROBERTS, or BIRMINGHAM, ENGLAND.

Application To all 'whom t may concer/n.'

Be it known that I, CHARLES ARTHUR ROBERTS, a subject of the King of Great Britain, residingv at 45 Great harles street Birmingham, .in the county of Warwick, iEngland, have Ainvented certain new and useful Improvements in Aero or the like; and I do hereby declare Athe following to be a full, clear, and exactdescription of the same.

This invention comprises improvements in aeroplane struts and the like and refers more particularly to that class of such which are of stream line section and employed for the purpose of' connecting the upper and lower planes. I-Iitherto it has been the practice to form these/struts from wood, but it is now diifl` cult to obtain suitable material.

The object 0f the present invention is to provide a strut which can bev produced other than from wood and which will be lighter than wood and have greater strength, and in accordance therewith the strut is produced from' sheet metal folded to the required stream line section and provided with one or more'internal webs or diaphragms for imparting the necessary rigidity.

Referring to the drawings Figure 1. is a perspective view of part of a strut according to this invention.

y Fig. 2. is an enlarged transverse section at A-B in Fig. 1.

Fig. 3. is a longitudinal section at C-D in Fig. 2.

Fig. 4. is a similar view to Fig. 2 but showing a slightly modified form of the invention.

n carrying this invention into practice as illustrated upon the accompanying drawings a strip of thin sheetsteel is taken of a length ,corresponding with that of the strut to be produced, this strip being folded to required stream ine section'kthe leading edge 2 of the strut being formed by the middle of the strip, while the 4two edges of thestrip are brought together/to 'form the trailing edg- 3 ofthe AEROPLANE-STRUT 0B, THE

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Dec. 1e, 1919.

led December 9, 1918. Serial No. 265,923.

riveted, or otherwise connected.

The internal web or Webs 4, 4 extend across the shorter diameter of the strut. i

Preferably two of these internal webs are employed each formed from thin sheet metalshown -in Fig. 1, with and of channel section, their ianges 5 fitting A against the inner walls o f the strut and being riveted, we lded, or otherwise secured thereto. These lnternal webs extend for the full length of the strut and are preferably pierced with a large number of holes as 6 so as to reduce the weight to a minimum.

In practice after the main blank has been folded to the lrequired section Web placed in position are welded, this in place. fixed and together. l

In another before the trailing edges web beingl riveted or welded The second web'is then similarly the trailing edges finally welded construction as seen in Fig. 4 -the flanges 5a of the one internal web 4a are extended and fnallybent inwardly toward each other as 7 8 so as to function as distance pieces for maintaining the two internal webs at th required distance apart.

'le the invention is particularly applicable to the construction of aeroplane struts it is also applicable to other tubular members of stream line section for aircraft.

What I claim then is In an aeroplane strut or the like, the combination of a tubular member of streamline section formed from folded .sheet metal, a welded seam running the length of the trailing edge, an internal web ofchannel section made of sheet metal and disposed across the smaller diameter of the tube, a second internal web having extended flanges abutting against the first mentioned web forming distance'pieces between the-webs, and means for securing the webs in position in the tube.

In testimony whereof I a'ix my signature.

CHARLES ARTHUR LLEWELYN ROBERTS.

the internalI nearest to the leading edgey would be 

